President Obama’s pledge of support for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council for India could easily be seen as an empty gesture. Clearly, he wanted to show that he considered India to be a “21st century center of influence” and strengthen...

What a difference a year makes. Last fall at this time, the Obama administration was scrambling to make sense of the Hatoyama government’s half-baked promise to counterbalance the United States in Asia and his vacillating pledges to both the American president and...

Civil society in Japan is far more vibrant than it was 20 years ago as Non-Profit Organizations (NPOs) and Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) have grown significantly in number and expanded their range of activities. There are some 80,000 civil society organizations now...

The US faces growing pressures on its defense spending. The US is still dealing with two ongoing wars and has a very different role in global power projection than its allies. So far, it has not made realistic efforts to project the cost of these wars in its defense...

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has experienced a resurgence in the last two years. Following the September 11, 2001, attacks, U.S. and Yemeni counterterrorism operations virtually shut down al Qaeda operations in Yemen.

Lawmakers in Panama repeal a controversial law affecting labor codes and environmental considerations. Mexican president Felipe Calderón submits to Congress a proposal to overhaul and unify the Mexico’s disparate police forces. Venezuela’s President Hugo...

Since the signing of the Dayton Peace Accords in 1995 and the NATO air campaign against Yugoslavia in 1999, the countries of the Western Balkans have faced a new challenge of promoting human security. Human security was first defined by former Special Advisor to the United...

A recent visit to an HIV/AIDS conference in Nigeria gave me an opportunity to discuss with colleagues and to review recent reports on several important infectious diseases in that very large and diverse country.

The international security challenges facing European governments are more complex than ever. In parallel, the economic recession has forced governments to make difficult choices in their defense budgets that will greatly affect their near- and long-term military...

The narcotics trade has a long history in China, most notoriously during the end of the 19th Century and beginning of the 20th when foreign, primarily British, exports of opium had such a devastating impact. It is estimated that by 1931, 20 percent of the Chinese population...